Value of D35 parts truck?

I stumbled across a DS35 parts truck a few states away. It's been sitting in the weeds for years, doesn't run, tires are flat, roof of the cab is damaged, fenders are hammered, owner knows nothing (it's a parts truck). The owner has been trying to sell it for 2 months for $XXXX but, would consider offers. A friend of mine hauls hay over that way every month or so I had a way to get it back here for the fuel. The owner seemed to want $2000+ which I thought was high. I nicely offered him $1250 based on what I had in my D30 which was in similar condition.

Was $1250 a fair offer?

Judging by your description, I would say your offer was more than fair. I have ran into this same mentality with other guys I have dealt with. Not knowing much if anything about about old automobiles in poor condition, they just think "Oh, an antique truck/car, it is worth a lot of $$$$!" They fail to realize that one on poor condition like you describe takes a LOT MORE $$$$ to restore. Even when restored to as new condition, you can seldom sell it for enough to recoup what you have in it. Even though you can strip it down and sell the parts individually for more, that takes a lot of time and effort to remove, clean, inspect, catalog, advertise, sell and ship the individual parts, so naturally you should get more to cover the additional labor and expense involved. Since the owner has been trying to sell it for 2 months and still has it, that should be pretty obvious that his price is too high! But you can't tell some people that.... My advice, offer what you think is fair and are willing to pay, if the owner rejects it out of hand and won't come down in the price, walk away.

I think the old bigger trucks have a really limited market as well. Most enthusiasts are going to shy away from a 2 ton. They don't seem to bring what a pickup will, so I thought my offer was plenty fair. Heck I figure he'd jump at it.

A friend of mine recently bought a rust free 48 Chevy 4100 1 1/2 ton dump truck for $500 from a golf course, he took a battery out there and a can of gas. He got it to run and drove it on the trailer. After a quick 12v conversion, a serious tune up, and a clutch it was back in service hauling firewood on the weekends. I doubt this DS35 would be so lucky. I doubt it would part out for better than $2000 either.

After a few days negotiations have fizzled out. I stayed at $1250 and he still thinks he's going to get in the high teens. I'll bet in 2 weeks he's contacting me to see if the offer still stands...

Funny how things seems to work out...

If all goes well today, my friend is offloading hay right now and the heading over to pick up the DS35 I bought. It will cover 700 miles of north america on a trailer to get to where it is not a castaway any longer. It's always neat to see some old iron heading down the interstate to be resurrected. Hope the country enjoys the view.

This will be my next "new" truck. I think I'll paint it Cadillac india ivory, with black fenders, and the running gear will be IH red. There will be plenty of 30's pin striping. It will likely end up on a 1983 chevy 1 ton 4x4 dually chassis, with 19.5 P30 wheels, and a 6BT cummins. A small eaton fuller 13 speed will keep the loads in tow. Sort of a big, bad, long legged, power wagon.

The D30 will get a 454 and NV4500 5 speed OD transmission, I'll upgrade to a split brake master from a 69 chevy C30 and add a modern booster. I'll keep the old running gear and 5.28 rear. I'll upgrade to some shocks though. The crawl ratio calculator says 2300 RPM @ 60MPH on that setup with 7.50x20's.